English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2)Ashton, John
History
English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2)
Ashton, John
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Caricatures and cartoons
Rowlandson gives us (September 20, 1808) ‘Napoleon the little in a Rage
with his great French Eagle!!’ Napoleon, with his sword drawn, and his
hands clenched, is in a terrible rage with his brother Joseph, who,
under the guise of a crowned eagle, is limping along with one leg in a
sling. Napoleon thus addresses him: ‘Confusion and Destruction--what
is this I see? Did I not command you not to return till you had spread
your Wing of Victory over the whole Spanish Nation?’ And the poor bird
meekly replies: ‘Aye, its fine talking Nap, but if you had been there,
you would not much have liked it--The Spanish Cormorants pursued me in
such a manner, that they not only disabled one of my legs, but set me
a moulting in such a terrible way that I wonder I had not lost every
feather; besides, it got so hot, I could not bear it any longer.’
There is a caricature (September 24, 1808) of ‘A hard passage, or Boney
playing Base on the Continent.’ He is here represented as playing on
the bass viol from the score of the ‘Conquest of Spain and Portugal.’
His task seems hard, and he exclaims: ‘Plague take it! I never met
with so difficult a _passage_ before. But, if I can once get over the
_Flats_, we shall do pretty well, for you see the _Key_ will then
change into _B_ sharp.’ A muzzled Russian bear is trying to play on the
French horn, and says: ‘Why that is _Natural_ enough, brother Boney,
though this _French horn_ of yours seems rather out of order.’
CHAPTER XLVI.
PENINSULAR WAR, _continued_--MEETING AT ERFURT.
[Illustration]
‘The Valley of the Shadow of Death’ is, as far as I know, the last
caricature of Gillray (September 24, 1808) in connection with
Napoleon--if, indeed, it can be called a caricature, for it is far
too serious in its conception. Napoleon’s situation at the moment is
here firmly grasped. He is surrounded by enemies. With notched sword
in hand, he leads the Russian bear. He is pursued by the German eagle
and the spirit of Charles XII. Above is the ‘Turkish New Moon Rising
in blood,’ the obscured portion of which is represented by ‘French
Influence,’ the bright crescent as ‘English Influence,’ and the whole
is dropping blood. A fiery comet, with a tiara as a nucleus (the Pope),
is darting thunderbolts of excommunication upon him; whilst Junot
and Dupont, shackled together at their necks, amidst clouds, seem to
warn him of his fate. Immediately in front of him is a _Portuguese
wolf_, which has broken its chain, a _Sicilian terrier_, and the _Leo
Britannicus_. Death also appears, lance in one hand, hour-glass in the
other, on a mule of ‘True Royal Spanish breed.’ In the Ditch of Styx
is disappearing ‘Rex Joseph,’ whose hands and crown alone appear above
water. Creeping upwards from the slime of the _Lethean Ditch_, is ‘The
Rhenish Confederation of starved Rats, crawling out of the Mud,’ also
‘Dutch Frogs spitting out their spite’; whilst the ‘American Rattle
Snake is shaking his tail,’ and the ‘Prussian scarecrow is attempting
to fly.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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